Abstract

There are 200 or more different symptoms of post COVID-19 conditions (long COVID) that persist for at least two months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. No definitive treatment has been established, and symptomatic treatment and rehabilitation have been mainly conducted for treatment of the condition. Based on a lower serum zinc concentration in COVID-19 patients compared to unaffected individuals, along with hair loss, fatigue, and taste disorder that may be accompanied by symptoms related to zinc deficiency in some long COVID patients, it is suggested that such symptoms may be improved by zinc supplementation. Specifically, zinc may reportedly be effective for hair loss and neuropsychiatric manifestations such as sleep disturbance and fatigue. Although no consistent results for the efficacy of zinc against taste disorder have been shown, oral intake of zinc preparations has been recommended in patients with zinc deficiency. In this article, we introduce common symptoms between long COVID and zinc deficiency to describe the efficacy of treatment for symptoms of long COVID that can be expected to be improved by zinc supplementation based on hypotheses proposed and reports on the pathogenic mechanism of those symptoms.

Keywords: Zinc; Hypozincemia; Zinc deficiency; SARS-CoV-2; Post COVID-19 condition; Long COVID